Masterpiece
by Baron Smashdown
Summary: Masterpiece begins three months after Aizen's defeat at the hands of Urahara.  However, a new threat has risen, one as ancient as the Gotei 13 itself, and this Black King has his sights set on the Soul King's throne.


Masterpiece

A Bleach Fanfiction

By **censored**

Part 1-Symphony of Chaos

Karakura Town was burning. The shrieking of hollows filled the airs, accompanied by the wailing of humans fleeing from the wreckage and death. Throughout the city the vizards and the handful of humans with spiritual powers fought against them. Doing their best to stem the massive tide. However, their was one area of the city where no one, either hollow or human walked. Those few humans who did enter the area quickly keeled over dead, same for the hollows, crushed by a reiatsu of incredible force. The center of this area was Karakura High School, where a lone figure stood on its roof, the source of this intense pressure.

The figure was humanoid in size and shape, it had golden yellow hair stretching down to the small of its back. Its face was covered by a sinister looking mask, roughly the shape of a human skull, but with fangs for teeth, and red markings, like blood, running down from its black eye sockets to its chest, where a large hole was set into the center. From the sides of its head, powerful bull's horns sprouted, and its fingers were tipped in claws. The figure wore a tattered Karakura High School Uniform…

Kensei glared at the hollow, gripping Tachikaze tightly in one hand. Ichigo's inner hollow was too powerful to take lightly, he wouldn't be holding back…not that that had ever been a problem for the vizard. "BANKAI!" Hollow Ichigo turned his head to regard the building upon which Kensei stood. A massive flow of reiatsu emitting from the area as the former captain released his bankai. The reiatsu faded into the background as Kensei continued to glare at Hollow Ichigo, his arms wrapped in the purple bands of Tekken Tachikaze, a punching blade held tightly in each hand.

Pushing off Kensei launched from the building, the force of his jump causing the building to crumble. Hichigo also leapt off, dashing straight towards the vizard. The two collided in the air, a massive explosion of wind rushing from the collision, sending rubble and the few bodies in the area flying through the air. Kensei pulled his fist back from the punch, and threw his other forward in a devastating blow. The blade smashed into Shiro Ichigo's shoulder, knocking the hollow backwards, but was unable to stop the hollow's own attack; a powerful swipe of its left hand that knocked Kensei flying through the air to crash into a building.

Kensei jumped to his feet, barely in time to see Shiro rush towards him, clawed hands smashing forwards in a furious barrage of attacks. Kensei moved quickly, twisting his hips and leaning from side to side, the deadly blows missing their target. Then he slammed his right fist forward, catching Shiro straight in the mask and knocking the hollow back, but still not cutting. Then hollow rammed forward, his head colliding with Kensei's with an audible crash. The vizard's head whipped back violently, a look of stunned surprise on his face from the force of the blow. Then Shiro grabbed the side of Kensei's head and slammed him against the ground, a red orb growing and glowing between his horns.

Several hundred meters away the figure that had caused this scene of destruction watched the fight with obvious enjoyment. The figure had black hair, drawn into a rigid pony tail, and wore an old-fashioned pair of breeches and a woolen shirt. There was a katana sheathed at his waist, his eyes a dull grey as he smiled in anticipation of Kensei's imminent demise. He was momentarily distracted by a twinge in his left arm, or rather what was left of his arm. A short ways down the shoulder and his left arm ended in a stump, and not a healed one either. That bitch shinigami had cut it off earlier, a minor inconvenience.

Suddenly, a reiatsu appeared behind him, "Ah, speak of the bitch and the bitch shall appear." The man said turning to face Rukia Kuchiki.

The shinigami glared at him, her knuckles white from the grip she had on her katana, "What did you do to Ichigo? Why did you do it!" She demanded angrily, taking a menacing step forward.

"Hehehe, why I merely removed the seal Zangetsu left behind. As for why, well you wouldn't understand the answer, after all I barely understand my master's reasoning." He said, grinning at the shinigami.

Rukia continued to glare at him, very annoying he really didn't think a glare suited her features, "Who the hell are you?" She demanded, not shouting this time.

The man tsked, he was going to miss the fight, in fact he had probably already missed Kensei's death by cero. He sighed, a strange reiatsu seeping from his form as he spoke, "I'm Imhotep, Lichlord of My Royal Majesty's Black Army." And then he began to transform.

Chapter 1: Voice of Discord

three hours earlier…

Rukia quietly watched Ichigo from the safe distance of fifty meters away, her reiatsu suppressed. It had been nearly three months since the last battle with Aizen that had robbed Ichigo of all his spiritual power. After the battle Rukia had retaken the duties she'd had before the whole incident that had changed Ichigo's life. For a time she had tried maintaining contact with him, but had stopped shortly after a month, it was no kindness to remind him of that which he'd lost.

At any rate, he wasn't who she was looking at or looking for, and this had nothing to do with the events concerning the now imprisoned Aizen. For the past few days she'd noticed a strange presence in Karakura, she'd never been able to confront the figure, but it always seemed to approach or get near the school. Furthermore, there had been a strange increase in the number of hollow attacks recently, and she was confident that the two were somehow linked. Today she was hoping to finally confront whatever this presence was.

She hoped that this little meeting wouldn't end in a fight, or if it did that she could end the fight quickly. School was in session right now and the building was full of students, including Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad. Primarily she was concerned with the last two sensing the reiatsu and coming up to interfere. She didn't want to involve anyone anymore than necessary; this presence gave her a bad feeling.

Then she felt it, a strange and mysterious presence approaching the school. It felt similar to reiatsu but something was…different. It was as if it weren't really reiatsu at all. This worried the shinigami, but right now she needed to confront the presence, her duties allowed no alternative. She waited a few minutes more, her reiatsu compressed. The presence changed locations, getting closer to the school. Then, a movement, a flash as something dashed into sight from the left of Rukia's vision.

From her location she could make out a figure that was now standing on the roof of the school, it was undoubtedly the source of this presence. Now was her chance, standing up the shinigami shunpoed over to the roof, appearing several meters away from the figure. "Remain where you are." Rukia said in a firm voice, stopping the figure who had prepared to dash away when she appeared.

The figure, it was a man, stopped and turned slowly, looking at Rukia with disdain. "Why don't you run off shinigami? This doesn't concern you." The man had black hair, drawn tightly into a ponytail and dull gray eyes. The eyes in particular disturbed Rukia, for they didn't seem just plain dull, they seemed glazed over, as if he were dead. Another strange thing were his clothing, they were not the Shihakusho of the shinigami but they were old-fashioned. He also had a katana sheathed at his waist, could it be a zanpakutou?

"I'll decide what does or does not concern me." Rukia said, placing a hand on her own zanpakutou, ready to draw. "Now who are you?"

The man sighed, an annoyed look spreading across his face. "I'm a tourist, come to see the sights." He said mockingly.

Rukia's response was swift, she drew her zanpakutou, and flash stepped right in front of him, the tip of the katana pressed against his throat, "Don't play games, I know full well you're more than just a tourist."

The man's response was so strange and unexpected that Rukia almost backed away. The man…yawned, he actually yawned! "Please, you don't intimidate me at all." He sighed, "but if you must know, I'm here to spread chaos and destruction by means of hollows." With that statement tossed out casually as if asking for tea, he suddenly disappeared, using shunpo himself. The figure reappeared behind Rukia to attack, but Rukia wasn't there anymore. She herself had activated shunpo the moment he disappeared to reappear behind him.

The ryoka, for it seemed clear that that was exactly what he was, turned his head, face twisted in a snarl. Then he disappeared again, but this time he was running, his strange reiatsu giving away the direction. Immediately Rukia herself disappeared, running after the figure. It was very clear that she could not let him get away. She reappeared on a roof several blocks from the school, the ryoka was now facing her, his zanpakutou drawn.

With a snarl he charged her, his katana coming down in an overhead swing. Rukia easily sidestepped the attack and brought her katana forward in a horizontal swipe, bypassing the opponent's sword completely. However, the ryoka didn't intend to be beaten that easily and jumped, flipping over Rukia's sword and then backing away, his own sword held warily in front of him.

Then suddenly, he began to laugh, as if he were laughing at the greatest joke in the world. Rukia's grip tightened, hearing mockery in the laughter, then he spoke, managing to calm down, "I have to say I'm seriously outmatched here aren't I?"

A confused expression grew on the shinigami's face as she processed what he had just said. He thought he was outmatched? If that was the case, then why was he laughing? Unfortunately, she wouldn't like the answer. "So, if I'm outmatched I guess I'd better bring in some back-up." As he spoke, the man held up a small white tablet, it seemed perfectly innocent, unless you knew what it was…quincy hollow bait. "You know, I've always wondered what would happen if yo-" He didn't get a chance to finish as Rukia suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind him, her back in front of her and her back to his. Also, his left arm was no longer attached.

The man cried out, but it sounded more like anger than pain, but then he chuckled. Rukia couldn't believe it, who the hell was this guy? "Its okay, after all I'd much rather crush two or three than one…or in this case a dozen." There was an ominous crunching noise, and Rukia slowly turned to face him, eyes wide and knuckles white on the hilt of her sword. In the figure's right hand was a descending cloud of dust and fragments, from where he'd crushed several tablets of hollow bait.

Rukia whirled around, far too late to stop him. Before she could retaliate, whether to kill him or injure him was unkown, a horrible shrieking filled the air, as if the very sky was shrieking in pain. The ground began to shake and tremble as if in the throes of some great torment. The Earth's rumblings were such that Rukia was thrown off balance, and although it was just for a moment it was enough for the mad ryoka to quickly distance himself. Unfortunately, Rukia had bigger problems to worry about.

The shrieking intensified as hundreds of hollows left Hueco Mundo, called forth by the tantalizing scent of the bait. An ominous crack spread up the sky, slowly spreading as hundreds more hollows fought to get out and consume, destroy, and kill! Quickly the shrieking of the air was overwhelmed by the roaring of hollows…and the screaming of citizens who had absolutely no idea what was going on. Rukia didn't have the time to track down the ryoka, if she took a few seconds Karakura town would be destroyed!

Down in the high school Chad, Orihime, Tatsuki, and the others looked up in shock and fear as a terrible wailing and shaking filled the air. At first no one else felt it and the small group was the subject of stares. Then the others felt the shaking even if they didn't hear the screaming. The shaking intensified, and then the school rocked as if from a tremendous blow, only Orihime and the others realized that that was exactly what had hit the school. Outside the school they could see a massive hollow attacking the school, desiring nothing more than to get at the tasty souls it could smell inside the building. The hollow smashed one hand into the building, there was screaming as the school shook and greater screams could be heard from the room the hollow had broken into. However, before it could do more Chad rushed forward, arms covered in the black, red, and white stripes of his power. His left hand shot forward, releasing a powerful blast of reiatsu, the hollow was tossed off, most of its body destroyed and clearly dead.

Yet, he didn't take any time to celebrate, he didn't say anything, his gaze was shocked and focuses on the sky, where hundreds more hollow were pouring down on Karakura like some deadly rain. "Chad what is it?" Orihime asked, moving up next to him, he didn't answer and he didn't have to, a moment later she saw the hollow rain as well. "Oh no, what's happening?"

"I don't know." Chad said, his voice still mostly calm despite the disaster. "But we need to gather the students and gather them somewhere safe and try to hold off until help arrives."

At that point a very familiar voice sounded from behind them, "Guys, what's going on? What are you looking at?" It was Ichigo Kurosaki, now no more than an ordinary human, and very much helpless in this situation.

"Ichigo get back!" Chad shouted, as several more hollows dived towards the school. "Orihime, get Ichigo and the others somewhere safe, I'll hold off the hollows!" With that Sado leaped out of the building, his left hand, the Left arm of the Devil, lashing out and destroying two hollows with the force of the attack, letting the full force of his reiatsu shine out in an attempt to attract the hollows towards him.

"Come on Ichigo, we need to gather the students." Orihime said, grabbing Ichigo's arm and pulling him away from the window.

"Orihime what's going on? How bad is it?" Ichigo said, following her but a frustrated look on his face.

"Bad, we need to keep the student body here and somewhere safe." Said student body was already panicking and running through the streets, the teacher's efforts, supplemented by Tatsuki and the others doing little to stop the panic.

Ichigo stopped and grabbed Orihime's shoulders, looking her in the eye, "Orihime, what aren't you telling me?"

"It's terrible Ichigo, there's no need to tell you anymore, we just have to stop them from running outside." She said breaking his grip and attempting to calm down the crowd.

Ichigo let her go, hands falling limply down to his sides. It all came down to that, he was powerless, incapable of even seeing spirits let alone fighting them. It was such that he was more of a burden to his friends, someone who needed protecting, then a comrade-in-arms. In this situation the only thing he could do was try to calm others down and hope Chad and the others could keep things calm he felt so...useless.

Far from the high school, in the warehouse district of Karakura Town, another discussion was taking place. "What the hell was that?" Shinji asked, looking up at the broken sky.

"Damned if I know, but its not good" Kensei replied, also looking up at the sky, "Got any ideas Hachi?"

The moustached vizard took a moment to reply, seemingly shocked by the events, "The effects seem similar to that of quincy hollow bait, but multiplied at least ten times. I have no idea what could do that."

"It doesn't matter, the city's in danger, we can't just sit back and watch it get destroyed, we've got to do something about it." Shinji said, walking forward, holding his zanpakutou by the sheath, "And while we're at it, let's find whoever's responsible for this...and make them pay."

The other vizards voiced their assent, and then headed out of the barrier Hachi had placed around it. Immediately hollows began veering towards the location, attracted to their now revealed reiatsu. Drawing their various zanpakutous, the vizards began to fight.

Back at the school all the student's were gathering in the basement, which had been designed to withstand events such as earthquakes. It was considered the area to go for everything from earthquakes to bomb alerts. The teacher's were calling role to make sure everyone was here and Ichigo was practically burning with the desire to actually be of use. Then something occured to him, Chad was still outside fighting hollows! Someone needed to warn him and let him know all the students were safe. If Ichigo had been calm he might have realized this for a bad idea, if he had been clear-headed. But he wasn't, he was filled with the knowledge that he was now almost the same as every other student here. He needed to be useful.

Outside the school Sado was busily fighting, normally he could handle the level of hollows that were being summoned with ease. However, there were countless hundreds of them, it seemed as if for everyone he killed ten more arrived clamoring for his blood. His left hand lashed out like lightning, slaying hollows wherever it swung, and his right hand dove about his body, the massive shield of the Right Arm of the Giant blocking any attack that was unfortunate enough to land upon it. Which was most, if not all, of the attacks. In truth Chad was the center of a massacre, slaying countless hollows with no signs of letting up. It was this scene that Ichigo came upon in his attempt to do something, anything useful.

"Chad, all the students are in the shelter, get out of there!" Ichigo said, only a few feet away from the door leading back into the school.

Sado turned his head briefly to look at the person calling his name. His eyes opened wide in shock and horror, there was a hollow right above Ichigo! "Ichigo look out!" He shouted, slamming a hollow out of his way and running forward, realizing that he wouldn't be there in time.

Ichigo turned around, his face was stunned, but he wasn't looking at the hollow who was still several feet above him, he was looking directly behind him. The hollow's hand came down, intending to grab and crush the life from Ichigo's frame, Chad strived to run faster, summoning every last bit of speed he had. Then, as the hollow was about to grab Ichigo there were several brilliant flashes of light in a brief but fierce hail, and the hollow broke apart, dissolving into nothingness. Several meters away Uryuu stood balanced on the fence his bow held straight out in his right hand, the left drawn back.

"Ichigo, you need to get out of here, this area isn't safe for someone like you." Uryuu said, spinning on a heel and launching another hail of arrows, ripping apart several hollows in the attack.

The ex-shinigami looked torn for a minute, then ran back into the school, head down. His attempt to actually be useful had ended in disaster, damn it but if he had his shinigami powers back for just a few minutes he could end this disaster! "What's wrong Ichigo, feeling helpless?" A smooth voice asked from the hallway to his left.

He froze momentarily, but realized that it couldn't be a hollow, he couldn't hear or see them. What he did see though was weird enough, the guy wore old-fashioned clothes and his eyes seemed dull. What really drew his attention though was his left arm, or rather the lack of a left arm. "Who are you?" He asked the figure, looking at him suspiciously.

"A friend, and more importantly someone who can restore to you your powers." The man said, tossing it out casually as if saying what he wanted for breakfast.

Ichigo stared, disbelief and shock warring on his features, "Y-you can restore my shinigami powers?" He asked, suspicion warring with hope in his voice.

"Oh yes, I definitely can restore your shinigami powers." The man said grinning, "You merely have to let me."

Ichigo took a step back, as if he heard something different, "How do I know I can trust you? How do I know this isn't a trick?"

The man sighed, an annoyed look crossing his face, "What do you want a certificate of trustworthiness or something? Look, there's no point in tricking you, you're powerless, worthless, you couldn't do anything to me if you tried."

That got to him, Ichigo winced as if hit physically and his shoulders seemed to get a new determination, "Fine, do it." He said, his voice filled with a new conviction. The ryoka couldn't help but be slightly impressed; he had expected confirmation to come from a weakened or saddened voice rather than this strong voice.

"Very well." The ryoka said, slowly walking towards Ichigo until his face was a few small inches from Ichigo's. "Are you ready, Kurosaki?" The man asked, Ichigo nodded, the sounds of conflict sounding incredibly distant to the young man. Then, the stranger's eyes seemed to widen, growing darker, until ichigo was falling into some vast space of infinite darkness….

It was dark, so very dark, he couldn't see any of his body, was his body even there? He tried moving his hands and his feet, tried taking a step. He felt his limbs moving but he couldn't see them, how could he be sure they were actually there? Then, there was light, faint at first, but then it began to grow filling his vision. Then the light solidified and he could see, at first Ichigo wasn't certain what it was he was seeing.

It was a city, filled with buildings of all size and description, it was Zangetsu's inner world, but something had happened to it. The buildings were falling apart, everywhere there was dust and debris as if the city had been subjected to an earthquake and no one had bothered to clean it up. There was movement, down in the streets some distance from Ichigo's vantage point in the sky. It was the stranger, the ryoka with a missing arm, he was carefully and slowly working his way down the street, climbing over chunks of broken building. Ichigo looked farther on, curious as to what the ryoka was walking towards.

There in the center of the city was the strangest sight he'd ever seen, for some reason he couldn't place it…at first. In the center of the city was a large circle that had been carefully cleared. Inside the circle were six katana spaced out equally, each katana looked exactly like Tensa Zangetsu, Ichigo's bankai. From each blade a long, delicate black chain extended towards the center where they were wrapped about another figure, binding it tightly. Aside from the chains no features could be made out as the individual was wrapped from head to toe in bluish-gray bandages. Kurosaki was forced to correct that statement when the figure looked up, straight towards Ichigo. All of the figure was wrapped in the bandages with the chain around it, except for the right eye, which was black with a golden iris…it was his inner hollow!

The ryoka was apparently heading straight towards Shiro Ichigo with no signs of stopping. In fact, as Ichigo watched the ryoka started moving faster as he came into sight of the bound figure. Ichigo tried calling out, telling the stranger to stay away, but no sound came out, it was as if he couldn't talk at all. He could feel himself saying and forming the words but they didn't make any impression or sound, he was an observer, separate from the situation and allowed only to watch.

Eventually the stranger reached the circle and walked to the nearest of the six Tensa Zangetsu's. The ryoka looked at the bound inner hollow and said something, and although the distance was great Ichigo could hear it as clearly as if he were standing there. "Ready to be free, Shiro Ichigo?" Then he grabbed the black katana, and began pulling. Immediately the ground began shaking and twisting spirals of reiatsu began emitting from the point where the blade penetrated into the ground. The spirals had the black edged with red appearance of a Getsuga Tenchou. The stranger grunted as the blade slowly emerged from the ground, the going slow as if he faced a great resistance. Then with a final yank, the sword emerged from the ground, immediately the chain connecting the sword to Shiro began to crack and quiver, dissolving into a flash of reiatsu before disappearing.

A steady vibration suffused the city, and somehow Ichigo could feel it from his view in the sky. A slow vibration as the hollow's restraints were weakened…the stranger seemed not to notice. He merely hummed quietly and moved to the next blade in the circle, and Ichigo couldn't do anything to stop him…

Orihime ran through the hallways, looking for Ichigo. She had no idea where he'd gone, one moment he was down in the basement with the others and the next moment he was gone! She had to find him quickly before something terrible happened to him! She turned another corner and he still wasn't there! She ran down the hallway, desperately calling Ichigo's name, the situation was too dangerous for him to wander off alone!

Then she found him, but there was something weird going on. Ichigo wasn't alone; there was another guy there who was missing his left arm. For some reason the two were standing face to face, with only a few inches between them. The man was grinning, but Ichigo, he looked scared, really scared. It wasn't something Orihime was used to seeing on his face. "Ichigo?" She said, touching his shoulder hesitantly.

Immediately Ichigo fell to his knees as if falling out of a trance, his head thrown back as he screamed at the top of his lungs. An anguished cry of pain and despair that made Orihime cry out in fear at hearing it. "Ichigo, what's wrong?" Orihime asked, dropping down next to Ichigo, near frantic with worry now.

The ryoka straightened and cracked his neck, an annoyed expression on his face. "Tch, brat meddling with my affairs. No worry though, I was able to get four of the swords out." He grinned, "I'd get away from him if I were you, it won't be safe around him for much longer."

Orihime looked away from the still screaming Ichigo, tears in her eyes as she glared at the man, "What did you do to Ichigo?"

"Nothing he didn't give me permission to do." And then the man disappeared, away from Orihime's sight and away from the school. Orihime took half a step towards where the man had been, but stopped as she remembered Ichigo, still screaming at the top of his lungs as if in some form of horrible agony.

She rushed towards him, grabbing Ichigo around the shoulders and trying to gently lower him to the ground. For some reason his hair was now hanging down past the shoulders, covering her arm. Suddenly, Ichigo's screaming took on a strange, choking, distorted quality, filling Orihime's heart with fear. The ground shook even worse than when the hollow bait had been shattered and the force of it knocked Orihime away from Ichigo. The young man put his hands to his head screaming up at the ceiling, a never-ending scream and suddenly a white flood of bubbling fluids erupted from his mouth, pouring over him and obscuring him from view.

"ICHIGO!" Orihime cried out, rushing towards him, then a hand grabbed her arm and held her back.

"No, don't go near him Orihime." Uryuu said, slowly backing away from the bubbling mass, taking Orihime with him.

"Uryuu what's happening?" Orihime asked, tears in her eyes, still trying to get to Ichigo.

"I don't know but I've only felt this power once before, and that was during the fight with Ulquiorra." Orihime stopped as the full ramifications of just what that meant rammed home.

"No…it can't be…he lost his powers…didn't he?"

"I thought he did, then again maybe he only lost his shinigami powers." Uryuu said, and at that moment the bubbling form shifted, and a pure white hand suddenly erupted from it, smashing into a wall. Uryuu and Orihime froze, watching in terror as Shiro Ichigo slowly emerged from the white goo, which was quickly evaporating. The hollow's masked face turned towards them, impossible to read. Uryuu broke free of the spell first, "RUN ORIHIME!"

Uryuu put up his bow, drawing one hand back, "Fight it Ichigo!" He shouted at the hollow, poised to strike. Orihime was standing there, unsure of what to do, "Run!" Uryuu shouted at her, turning to look at her, big mistake. At that moment one of Shiro's clawed hands landed on Uryuu's head, the quincy's eyes widened in shock, and then…

Orihime flinched as a great burst of wind passed her followed by a tremendous explosion. Ichigo and Uryuu were now nowhere to be seen.

"Oh no!" Orihime said, running in the direction of the explosion. The source was quickly found as apparently Shiro found no use for doors, and had merely slammed himself and the Quincy through them all the way outside. She rushed through the holes, filled with worry over what might have happened to Uryuu and Ichigo. When she got outside the first thing she noticed was a flood of panicked students being evacuated by Chad, Tatsuki and the others. They had quickly realized that the school was no longer safe, Orihime was a bit too distracted to wonder how they knew that.

The second thing was floating several meters above the ground, it was Ichigo and he was holding Uryuu by the throat. However, that wasn't what made Orihime's heart clench in pain and fear, it was the fact that Uryuu wasn't moving, just hanging there limply. Things seemed to slow down intensely as Shiro Ichigo moved the arm holding Uryuu to the right, and then to the left, releasing the quincy as he did so. It seemed to take forever for the quincy to fall to the ground, where he lay unmoving.

Orihime's mind flashed back to that horrible day in Los Noches, during the fight with Ulquiorra, when Ichigo had first turned into this horrible creature. It was like that all over again but a hundred times worse, this wasn't Ichigo, it couldn't be Ichigo, she wanted Ichigo back. "ICHIIIGOOO!" She screamed in anguish, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Shiro paused and turned towards her, head cocked quizzically. Orihime froze, rooted to the spot by that gaze, Ichigo's whole body turned to face her, still several meters above her head, and then… He suddenly disappeared only to reappear right in front of her, right hand drawn back to strike. His hand moved forward, Orihime was paralyzed, and things were still going so…very…slow…

Suddenly a glowing fist smashed into Shiro's head sending him reeling back and diverting the blow. Orihime turned her head, stunned towards the source of the blow to see Kensei Muguruma, standing there. "Get out of here Orihime." The vizard said, walking forward, Tachikaze held tightly in one hand, "If you stay here you're going to get killed."

Orihime wanted to stay, wanted to help, but couldn't help but realize that Kensei was telling the truth. She had to leave as much as it hurt her to do so. So, she turned and ran, tears in her eyes as it felt as if she were abandoning Ichigo.

Kensei lay on the ground, he wouldn't be able to recover before the hollow's cero was charged. Kensei pushed against the ground, trying desperately to get to his feet or just roll away, he needed to move! He turned, now able to see as Ichigo fired the cero at practically point-blank range. The red orb expanded into a beam of energy, and then another shaft of powerful red energy came from the side, striking Ichigo and spinning him around, causing the cero to shoot into the sky.

This was followed by Shinji delivering a powerful blow with his katana, and while it didn't cut the hollow it was sufficient to send the beast flying some distance away. "What the hell are you doing?" Shinji asked, his voice coming through his hollow mask distorted, "You know you can't take on Ichigo's hollow without your mask."

Kensei got to his feet and not looking at Shinji, "Tch, I'd rather save it for an absolute emergency then use it frequently and have it shatter during a critical moment." The vizard said, cracking his neck. Shiro Ichigo roared, jumping into the air, "Still, I suppose you might have a point." With that Kensei rushed forward, slamming his hollow mask down over his face as he did so.

,"I'm Imhotep, Lichlord of My Royal Majesty's Black Army." The ryoka said, and then a strange transformation took place. First a strange, mysterious reiatsu suffused his body, leaking out in the form of twirling black tendirls of mist. These tendrils wrapped around his body, somehow transparent despite their black color. Rukia watched as if hypnotizes as his skin seemed to wither and dry out, muscle shrinking and his hair aging and falling off. Before the shinigami's eyes the stranger's body was withering as if rapidly undergoing the process of decay, his clothes rotted off to be replaced by a ragged, flowing green cloak, his skun faded to a dry, dusty brown and seemed barely capable of covering the bone, with no discernable muscle beneath. Only two things remained the same, the faded, dull grey eyes, and the katana.

"This is my true form, Rukia Kuchiki, and unfortunately I cannot take the time to give you a tour of my true abilities." The talking corpse grabbed the katana by the sheath, just below the crossguard of the hilt and lifted it up, pointing the pommel at Rukia. This action seemed to break whatever spell Rukia was under and she sprang into action, lunging towards Imhotep, blade seeking his heart. However, it was too litte, too late, "Black Tower 74, Hell's Cannon." Flame and destruction consumed the building.


End file.
